3. Dimitri
3
DIMITRI
I tell myself this is just following orders. Keeping this woman for a while is only doing what I must. It’s merely in line with what I promised Jacob.
I bargain with myself until I’m denying reality and bending it to fit my will.
Two years ago I was saving lives, and now I’m taking them. That’s one way I’ve tarnished my legacy; keeping a fucking hostage would burn that legacy to the ground.
And yet, here I am, finding ways to deny the reality of what I want to do and justifying it until I’m blue in the face.
After all, Jacob told me to make a show of taking the yacht and Dorian’s women, and I’m now heir to his throne. I’m a part of his court now. No longer a soldier for good but a soldier for my Pakhan’s dark reign.
This is simply a new version of good versus bad, or so I like to think. We’re the good guys in this, and Dorian and his crew are the baddies. Simple. Black and white. A tale as old as time.
Good versus evil.
Nice and easy.
I can keep the girl and be a hero.
I can keep the girl and send a strong message not to fuck with us, too. There isn’t only our cartel who are fighting these fuckers; the Greeks in Athens also have beef with them and are discussing taking them down with their operation. This is what Jacob should have done a long time ago, the scorched earth part.
Dorian paid a million dollars for this woman, so really, I should keep her as a message. To let her go would be lax, and I do hate sloppy work.
See? Logic .
Plus, she won’t be safe. If I let her go, the ragtag remnants of Dorian’s crew who are still in the city will be a threat to her. As will whoever the fuck sold her.
Until we’ve cleaned up the streets entirely, my little blue here is a walking, talking target.
Keeping her is a bona fide act of fucking charity.
Her mouth looks sore around the corners, and it sparks a strange tug in my chest. A long, dormant tenderness. Careful not to scare her, I reach forward gently and take the gag out.
She starts making noise immediately. Crying, hiccupping, begging and saying things that make no fucking sense.
I shake my head and put my fingers to my lips. “Don’t make me put it back in, little blue.”
She snaps her mouth shut, her lips a tight line of obedience. She doesn’t argue, or ask questions, or continue talking. She simply goes quiet and still. It’s this moment of utter submission, while at the very same time her terrified, wide eyes narrow just a little as defiance sparks in them that seals her fate.
Little blue did what I told her, but she hated the order, and she has the will to do battle still sparking in her. Anyone who can still have some fight in them after the ordeal she’s been through is an incredible person. Strong, deep down. Intriguing .
My gaze roams over her face, thinking I could never get bored of it. She’ll still be beautiful at sixty. Those eyes won’t dim.
Yuri clears his throat and repeats his question. “Shall I take her up on deck to go on the tender back to shore?”
Without looking away from her, I shake my head. “No. Leave her with me.”
“Boss? You okay?” Yuri sounds worried now. As well he might be. This behavior is not remotely usual for me.
“Perfectly,” I answer.
I reach out and brush a damp lock of silky dark hair from her face, which allows me to see her high cheekbones better.
“Exquisite.” My moment of admiration is interrupted by another throat clearing from fucking Yuri.
“Go.” I snap my fingers. “Take the trafficked girls to the shore. Keep the girlfriends of Dorian’s men here if you manage to find any. Tell Alexis I need him with me when he’s handed Mila over, as he will need to take some pictures of the men partying on the yacht.”
“God, you ruin all our fun,” Jinx says with a cheeky grin, seemingly over his half choking already. He’s built like a tank and as thick as the doors on one, too.
He’s lucky I’m so intrigued by the woman on the bed that I’ll let that go.
“You’re astonishing,” I say to her. “Where the hell did scum like Dorian find a gem like you?”
“Dimitri,” one of my men calls from the doorway before she can answer. “We have Dorian on deck, restrained. Alexis says he’ll ensure he gets taken to the safe house. Ari and two of the other senior members of the group aren’t on the boat, and haven’t been. That means they’re out there still.” He glances around him. “You’ll need to take the girl somewhere else while we clean up these cabins.” He indicates the bloody mess in the doorway where the skinny kid was knifed. “There are two free bunks down a separate corridor that haven’t been used. Maybe put her in there while we get the wet work done and the cleaning carried out.”
“Can I go home?” Little blue speaks clearly for the first time.
I shake my head, sorry in a way for what I must do next. Yet, in another sick way, I’m not sorry at all.
“Oh, no, little blue, you can’t.” I smile, trying to soften my words. “You see, for now, you need to be seen as mine.”
Little blue, it suits her, and I think of it as her name now. Little blue . Bluebird, blue eyes, and a sadness raging inside her that’s so beautiful it makes my chest ache.
I reach down and gently pick her up. She’s fragile in my arms and shaking.
Something ignites in me. An anger at the people who put her in this position. A strange protectiveness despite me now also becoming her captor.
Both of these sensations war with the surging desire I feel. The kind of desire I haven’t experienced in years.
I grab a throw from the chair as we leave the room and cover her, wanting to quiet my raging need and make her feel a sense of safety too. I find one of the unused rooms and kick the door open and carry her inside.
Thank God this place doesn’t have the headache-inducing color scheme presumably favored by Dorian.
When I think of him, I smile inwardly. He’s going to be in a world of pain soon.
This woman can’t be the vector for my feelings, but I’m all jacked up on adrenaline, and fucking would be a great release. I guess I’ll just have to work it out of my system with violence instead of sex. Dorian can be the receptacle to pour my rage into.
“Is Mila okay?” Littleblue’s voice is croaky. She needs some water. “And her friend, Josie?” she adds.
“You know Mila?” If she does know Mila, this is going to complicate things.
“We all made a promise to look after one another,” she says.
“Huh.” It’s a lie; I can taste it. Still, she doesn’t need to worry because I am going to look after her. So fucking good . She’s the first person I’ve wanted to look after in a long time. I also want to fuck her, which is kind of contradictory.
No fucking , I tell my reptilian brain.
Not yet.
This will be a seduction, not an assault. I don’t want her that way. Not giving in because she’s scared and compliant, or because she thinks she has no choice. I need her desire too. I don’t know her, but I crave her freely given submission, in bed at least. The things I could show her. I want to play her body like a violin and make her sing under my touch.
For that, I need her to want me in return.
Could I make her desire me?
We all want something, every single one of us. We’re driven by our needs and desires. What does my Littleblue want? What does she need ? If I can give her those things, perhaps she will want me in return. If I can be the person who delivers whatever her deepest, darkest need is on a platter, would she let me in?
“Mila isn’t your concern now.” I gently place the girl on the bed.
“Let me go,” she whispers, and for a startling moment, I almost do.
The brokenness in her voice has me almost … almost holding that door open for her. If I let her go, where will she run to? Someone sold her for a million dollars .
There are metaphorical fire-breathing dragons waiting out there for my fairy tale princess. Much better to keep her here, in the castle, with me. After all, I am the heir, the Bratva prince, and while my kingdom might be tarnished by sin, better she be part of it than twisting in the wind.
“Sorry, Littleblue. I can’t. Not quite yet.” I retrieve a bottle of water from the mini fridge in the corner of the room and hand it to her.
She gulps it greedily.
“Are you hungry?”
She shakes her head. “I’ve felt sick ever since they put the cloth over my face when they took me.”
I’ll get Alexis to call our private doctor and ask him to come take a look at her and make sure she’s okay.
I study her and frown. She’s dirty, and it must feel horrible. “You need cleaning. Let’s get you ready for your starring role, Littleblue.”
She lets out a small sob.
I take hold of her hand. “Don’t cry. You can get cleaned up, and you’ll feel better. I’ll find you some clothes. You can’t go, not yet. It isn’t safe for you out there because some of Dorian’s gang are still at large. I promise you; no one will hurt you, okay?”
She looks at me, those huge pools of her eyes clearly showing her lack of belief in my statement. There’s a battle raging inside her. I can see it in the depths of her gaze.
I tamp down the urge to brush her hair again from where it has fallen over her face. To do so would be another uninvited touch, and it might seem like nothing for me, but to her? Traumatized. Terrified. Taken against her will. Every time someone breaches her autonomy it is huge. No matter how small the transgression.
“I know you don’t believe me, but I need to keep you here for a few days because I need to make sure it’s safe to set you free. Who sold you?” I ask.
She opens her mouth, closes it, opens it again, and then she speaks.
“I think, I um, I think my stepmother did.”
And just like that. This heir to the tarnished Bratva throne has a moral quest.